Building Bridges
by Smile-I'mTheEndOfAllThatYouSee
Summary: After the events of "The Alien Agenda", Leo has never felt so low in his life, but a certain orange banded turtle knows exactly where he's coming


**My first 2012 TMNT fanfic. In one episode, when Mikey said that he know how Leo felt (after Leo was betrayed by Karai), I was hoping Mikey was going to mention his episode with Bradford, but no. He mentioned Leprechauns. I was pissed. The writers missed an opportunity for character development and bonding time. So I'm righting the wrong. Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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Leo walked to his room after getting scolded by Master Splinter. He never thought he could feel so low in his life, but not even past failures could compare to this. He trusted (and maybe even fell in love with?) a girl, but that trust was merely black wool over his eyes and that blindness nearly cost his brothers their life and left a small crack in his heart. He really hated himself then and there. Not even the airing of a new episode of _Space Heroes _tonight could cheer him up. That's how much he hated himself: he willingly missed his favorite show.

Leo grabbed the doorknob of his door and was about to turn it when…

"Hey, bro."

Leo turned around to see Mikey beaming at him. Of course, Mikey wasn't mad at him anymore. Mikey got over anger really quick, but still, Leo wasn't in the mood to face his already forgiving brother. "Hey, Mikey, you need anything?"

"Just wanna cheer you up, bro!"

Leo smiled. "Thanks, but I don't think anything can cheer me up right now. Goodnight."

Leo was about to open the door when Mikey said, "Wait." Leo turned around and looked. Out of nowhere, Mikey pulled out three balls. He did a handstand. With one arm, he threw the balls upward and juggled them with his feet. Leo had to admit he was impressed by the trick, but it didn't change his mood. Mikey concluded with his act by kicking the balls up, and before they could land, he jumped up, landed on his feet, and caught the balls with his hand. "Ta-Da! Pretty cool, huh?"

"Very nice. Goodnight." Then Leo attempted to cross the threshold.

"Wait!"

Leo stepped back and sighed. "What is it, Mikey? Can't you see I'm not in the mood?"

"Not only can I see it, I can get it." Mikey smirked.

Like most things that come out of Mikey's mouth, Leo didn't really know how to respond to his brother's statement except with a "huh?"

"I mean, I been there, bro! I thought I could trust Chris Bradford, but then he used me to find our Lair. It hurts." Mikey pounded his fist on where his heart was located and said dramatically, "In here."

"Yeah, well, you didn't know he was a part of the Foot Clan. I knew Karai was."

"It still hurts. Going out of your way to make a BFF only for that BFF to crush you and try to wipe out your family."

Leo was starting to feel better. Not cheered up, but better in the way misery loves company. It was nice for at least one family member to completely understand what Leo was going through. So he elaborated more on his pain, "I just thought maybe there was good in her. Maybe I can turn her over to our side rather than have to kill or defeat her in combat. I thought maybe I could do better with words than with swords, friendship over hate."

Mikey smiled, "Yeah, we're just those kinds of people, er, turtles, aren't we?"

Now Leo was confused again. "What do you mean?"

"We try to prove the haters wrong by using love only for us to get bitten on the tail. I thought I could prove you guys wrong about humans by making a human friend other than by saving one only for me to be used as bait to lead that friend to our Lair. You wanted to make a friend out of an enemy only for you to nearly lose us. It sucks."

"I know. Guess that's just stupid idealism."

"Nah! It's great! It shows we're willing to build bridges rather than build walls. That's why it's up to us to keep building those bridges! We just gotta be careful not to throw our hearts at our enemies at first glance. MLK said that!" Mikey put his hand on his chin and with his other hand, cradled that arm like one does when one ponders over something, "Or was it Ghandi? Mother Teresa?" Mikey dropped the stance. "I don't know. Somebody said it."

Leo smiled and put his arm around his little brother's shoulder. "Thanks, bro."


End file.
